A PAIR OF GEORGE II WALNUT SIDE CHAIRS

These compass-fronted chairs share the rare form of serpentined stretcher-tie with the celebrated suite of japanned seat furniture delivered to Spain about 1740 by the celebrated Clerkenwell cabinet and chair maker Giled Grendey (d.1780) (C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, fig. 449). The Chinese influence in this form of vase-splat or 'India-back' parlour chair is discussed by A. Bowett, 'The India-backed chair 1715-40', Apollo, January 2003, pp. 3-9.